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noahshipman
Inspiring
December 3, 2017
Answered

How to rotate something in photoshop timeline animation?

  • December 3, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 33049 views

Hello all,

This may seem like an extremely amateurish question but today I've been having the hardest time making an animation of a person walking using keyframes in photoshop timeline animation. Basically, I want each leg component to rotate every time he takes a step, and for the position of the leg component to change as he's moving forward. Bottom line: I want to animate the rotation and position of a layer.

I set my keyframes up accordingly, and the position animated just fine, but I'm having serious trouble with the rotation. I move my ticker over the keyframe, hit ctrl+T, and rotate, but the rotation is applied to the entire animation and not just that keyframe. I'm so confused.

Then I tried, in the timeline panel, changing the motion from "custom" to "rotate", but the problem this time was that when i tried rotating it, it disregarded my anchor point no matter where I dragged it to and just rotated around the middle. Is it because I am trying to animate the rotation AND the position that's making it complicated?

Please help!

    Correct answer Chuck Uebele

    Are you using smart objects? They retain the transformation information when dealing with timelines.

    3 replies

    Participant
    October 29, 2025

      זה מאוד דחוף לי !!!! אם מישהו יודע לענות לי איך שומרים לגיף בגלל הרבה הגדרות לא מובן לי  איך לעשות את זה ומופיע לי רק בתור קובץ HTML תודה רבה!!!

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    November 18, 2025

    Hi @sincere_Enigma5EC6,

     

    Thank you for reaching out. Photoshop does not export GIFs as HTML files; therefore, your description suggests that something in the workflow may not be pointing to the correct output.

    To help you quickly, I need a bit more detail:

    • How are you exporting the animation right now?
    • Are you using Export > Save for Web (Legacy) or Export > Export As?
    • What exact option do you click when the HTML file appears?

     

    In the meantime, here is the correct workflow to export an animated GIF:

    • Go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy).
    • Choose GIF as the format.
    • Make sure Looping Options is set to Forever.
    • Click Save.
    • In the Save dialog, ensure the Format is set to Images Only.
    • Choose the destination folder and confirm.

     

    Following this workflow should always produce a .gif file.

     

    Once you share your steps, I can guide you precisely.

     

    Best,

    Anshul Saini

    JJMack
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    December 4, 2017

    Rotate 3d layers in a video timeline. http://www.mouseprints.net/old/dpr/Insidelight.mp4

    For a warking  animation, Create a Frame animation and a layer for each frame.  Try duping a layer and using puppet warp to move/change your characters body movement.,

    JJMack
    Chuck Uebele
    Community Expert
    Chuck UebeleCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    December 4, 2017

    Are you using smart objects? They retain the transformation information when dealing with timelines.

    Participant
    April 18, 2022

    this is it, thank you so much!

    Participant
    September 10, 2025

    So what's the solution?